A Switching of Destinies
by Natasha Queen of Angst
Summary: This wasn't right. Something had caused this anomaly. Anomalies are not permitted in the grand Formula. One being the the power to alter time. Four heroes. One destiny to be changed, forever.


**Why the Affairs of Humans Should Not Be Meddled With, Based On A Mathematical Calculation**

**Feedback- All is welcome!**

**A/N: This is my 1st Fantastic Four story so please be kind. I love reviews, they feed the imagination.  
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Stardate 71299.2

It could have been any of them. Any of them could have been asked to arrange the samples outside of the station, and been exposed to the deadly rays with no protection whatsoever. It was simply luck of the draw that selected Ben Grimm for the 'honor'. I should know, I have run cosmic equations on this anomaly for the past two years with always the same results.

Only 2 of my results offered Susan or Reed as potentials. And only 33.3 of the results have indicated that Ben Grimm was the best candidate. The other 64.7 indicated Jonathan Storm. His odds have disrupted the flow of time and space, creating a catastrophic anomaly. One that is slowly creating a breach that could potentially destroy the cosmos. As One Who Observes, I should not interfere save for in the most devastating of circumstances. Alas this has proven to be devastating circumstances.

My interference will no doubt corrupt this timeline in some way, alter future events. Those I shall fix as they arise, but for now, the threat that has been posed must be remedied. By _**any**_ means necessary.

Jonathan Spencer Storm had been sleeping when he felt his insides get yanked. Hard. He landed with a small thud on a cold metal floor. Blinking owlishly, he stared up into a pair of large green eyes. Scrambling to his feet, he toward over the tiny blonde child-like creature. Dressed in simple white robes she stared down at him. Johnny suddenly had the impression that whoever this was, she was a hell of a lot older than she looked.

"Okay, what just happened?" Johnny asked.

"I have transported you here Jonathan Storm. You must be shown something, it is of grave importance to your dimension." She turned and waved a hand in front o her, a blank silver screen appeared and images began to flash across it. The space station and what happened there. But something was different.

"This is what statistically was supposed to occur that day." She explained. "You were supposed to perform the service required outside of the station. Not Benjamin. You were supposed to be struck full force with the radiation, with only minimum protection." More images flashed through the screen, events changed in some places. Johnny flying off toward New York instead of Ben. He used his powers to save the bridge jumper from the oncoming truck. Then later, Reed showing him a sterile white room with no adornment or furniture.

"A specially pressurized room." The girl explained. "To keep your powers in a contained environment where they would not endanger others."

"Did I always stay there?" Johnny asked.

She hesitated, "No, You eventually did managed to control the temperature of your flames to a degree. But they became a natural part of your physiology. You essentially were _living_ fire."

"So this almost happened?" He replied, "What changed things? Why didn't it happen?"

The girl turned her attention to dozens of mathematical calculations that materialized out of thin air. "From what I have been able to calculate, the anomaly that caused this diversion from the intended time line was here." She circled one of the strings of numbers, which magnified itself and drifted closer. "You're being hired as a pilot by Victor Von Doom. By all rights he should not have done so, your credentials were not the best, and you had almost no recommendations. I supposed his desire for your sister was what prompted this rash decisions. The human mind and heart have always remained one of the greatest mysteries to me."

"So, if I never got hired by Doom, everything would have changed?"

"In theory yes. Under normal circumstances I would not inform you of any of this information, but w cosmic anomaly has appeared at the borders of this universe. It is not like the one that created your powers, that one was comparatively small in size. The one that has appeared because of this change in your intended timeline is several trillion times the size. In approximately one week it will reach this place and your planet will be destroyed."

"That's it? No way to change it? What about a chance it'll miss our galaxy?" he asked desperately.

She shook her head. "I am afraid that the chance of that is far too small for me to risk. I will not sacrifice billions of lives if there us anything that can be done about it. My predecessor would have, but she lacked enough emotion to care about anything other than her perfect result. Mathematical equations can be altered to fit a puzzle. But the lives lost because one wishes for the cosmos to match itself to the math, that is unacceptable." She cleared away the view screen and turned to face Johnny.

"I can change this Jonathan. But not without your consent. I can change your past, and save the future of billions of people. I will not however, make the choice for you."

Johnny hesitated before asking. "What about Sue? Will she be okay? Will changing things change her future too?"

"She will continue on the same basic course of action that would normally occur. There will be some discrepancies but that is to be expected. There should be no lasting problems with any of your friends."

Johnny nodded. "Alright then, how do we do this thing?"

The girl blinked. "That is it? No further questions? My knowladge of humanity is that they require details of what is about to happen to them."

"Well, if your about to change history, I'm not going to remember anything you told me am i? or that any of this happened." He grinned. "I did pay attention during high school you know."

She smiled. "Well, then we had best get started."

The room suddenly glowed bright white, blinding him.

Johnny floated alone in a void of white. Soft hands caressed his forehead, and someone gently place a kiss on his brow. "Thank you Jonathan Storm. Your sacrifice will be remembered, even if only by myself." Just as the white void began to fade away, "Should we eve meet again, you will remember what happened here when you hear my name. Terra."

Everything darkened, and the world changed.

A phone rang on the bedside table. Johnny fumbled around for it, glancing briefly at the name on the ID. Sue.

"Yeah sis what's up?"

"I'm going into space tomorrow." She said, hurriedly, as if she was doing something else. "Reed, Victor and Ben say that we need another crewman to get the shuttle to the station."

"So get one of Vic's hired monkey's to do it for you." Johnny said, realizing that he would not be going back to sleep. "He's got more than enough drones better qualified to fly than me."

"But they aren't better fliers. Even Ben agrees. He'd rather have you as co-pilot than anyone Victor would assign."

"Ben? C'mon Sue, the big guy hates my guts."

"No, just your attitude. Ben never had a problem with your guts Johnny."

"Yeah whatever." Johnny sighed and began to look around for clean clothes. "Fine, where are you and when are you launching."

"I knew you'd come around. We're in Huston. A flight's already been arranged. Your plane leaves Victor's private airfield in an hour. Love you."

"No you don't. I'll see you later Sue."

"Bye Johnny."

Shutting off the phone, Johnny turned his attention to finding clothes, food and packing. Sue didn't bother to give him the details of the mission they would be going on. Not that he needed them, he was just her kid brother who happened to have a license to pilot a spacecraft. Or anything else with wings.

Bag packed, dressed in clothes that were somewhat clean he called the garage and told them something came up and he'd be out of town for a while. His boss Ana didn't care. She'd had more than her own share of 'something came ups' so she just told him to go do his thing and get back to work when he came home. Building custom engines for the Avengers and other sorts of superhero groups gave you that nice perk. They paid well, and you got the best toys to play with. Plus, creativity was always appreciated.

Ana asked if he needed her to call up anyone and tell them he'd be out of town. He said not to bother, he wasn't dating anyone, hadn't been for a couple of weeks now, and since he was going to stay with his only remaining family member what was the point? Ana told him to "shut up and get on the damn plane."

Arrival at Von Doom's launch pad was, interesting to say the least. Victor was nowhere in sight, and Reed appeared to be avoiding him. Ben had clapped the younger man on the shoulder with the explanation the Reed simply didn't want Johnny to break his nose again. In Johnny's opinion, Reed shouldn't have dumped Sue.

Getting changed for the mission was a quick deal, although he thought the uniforms were ridicules. Too tight, and completely the wrong color for him. Too green.

Victor appeared when it was tie to board the shuttle, and Ben asked if Johnny still thought he was up to scratch for piloting, in an odd joking tone. They took off easily enough, and Ben was impressed that the kid hadn't gotten rusty. Sue thought this was very funny.

The station docking was easy enough, and they prepared for Reed's coming experiments. Ben suited Johnny up, while Sue disappeared with Victor somewhere on the ship. Arranging samples was interesting in so far as he was suspended in space. Other than that, boring, nothing anyone else couldn't have done. When Ben and Reed appeared.

Johnny!" the comm. link buzzed in his ear.

"What?" he shot back.

"Johnny you have to get back here now." Reed said

Ben shouted, "Come on kid!"

"Hold on nerd boy, I'm not done arranging your flowers." Johnny looked up in time to see a swirling red cloud rushing towards him. "Oh shit."

"Come on Johnny jump!" Ben and Reed yelled.

He didn't hesitate. Dropping what he was doing, he made a running jump for the air lock.

Not fast enough. The cloud slammed into him, and he felt his head crack hard against this helmet as he was shoved through the airlock into the other two. Ben had a strange expression, before Johnny's world went dark.

Consciousness returned slowly. He was no longer on the space station, but in a soft bed, with dozens of wires attached to him. Sue was sitting in a chair next to the bed, a harried expression on her face.

"Hey," he said in a rasping voice.

"Hey," Sue replied, leaning closer. "How're you feeling?"

"Alright I guess. Tired though." He ran a hand over his scalp, "What happened? And who shaved my head?"

Sue chuckled, "We had too. Most of your hair fell out because of the radiation we were exposed to."

"And yet you seem to have kept your lovely golden tresses." Johnny raised an eyebrow at her. "You okay?"

She nodded, "Yeah, there haven't been any side effects so far, other than you being out for three days." She patted her brother on the shoulder. "You had me worried little brother."

"Yeah, sorry about that." He looked around, "Uh, can I get out of here now?"

Sue laughed. "Yes I guess so." She handed him a set of his clothes, neatly folded. Clearly Sue had been through his stuff. "Get dressed Johnny, do you need some help?"

"If I can get myself dressed without my big sister, somebody shoot me." He replied with a grin.

Some time later found Johnny in front of a mirror, examining his changed appearance. He looked thinner, and completely hairless. Not just his shaved head, but his eyebrows and lashes, and the traces of beard hair that should have been there after not having shaved in three days. He looked like a chemo patient.

Dressing quickly, he left the room in search of food, and quite possibly some sympathetic nurses, just to see if he could charm them a bit. He ran into Ben and Reed outside having lunch with Sue. Back peddling quickly before he did something stupid and most likely jeopardizing his sister's chance to honestly get back with the nerd-master.

Ben however saved him from any 'foot in mouth' moments by standing up. "Hey there kid!" he greeted enthusiastically, "How ya doin'?" throwing an arm around his shoulder Ben turned to the rest of the group, "Hey, I'm gonna go catch up with the kid here. You two love birds stay here and chat."

Dragging the smaller man away by the arm, Ben and Johnny disappeared inside the building. "So, how are you doning kid?" Ben asked. "That wasn't all sme cock and bull story you know. I have been worried about you."

"Thanks." Johnny said somewhat annoyed, "I keep trying o remember that, but, ya know it just ain't working."

Ben sighed. "I know kid, really I do, but ya gotta understand, ya did make some pretty stupid mistakes. That cost ya too, even though ya didn't realize until too late."

Johnny shrugged, "Not important anymore, I've got a good job, with good people, I keep up with the training I need and whatnot, but I'm living my own life, doing my own thing, instead of living someone else's dreams. I-" he stopped suddenly, holding a hand to his forehead, "I'm, my own- person now." He stumbled slightly, but Ben caught him before he could crash to the floor.

"Here now kiddo," he frowned and check Johnny's temp with the back of his own hand. "Jesus kid, you'r burnin' up. Lets get you back to bed so someone can have a look at you."

Johnny shook his head somewhat dizzily, "No, I'll just get some sleep. I don't want anymore needle pricks if I can avoid it."

Ben made certain that he was settled before closing and locking the door behind him. He told the nurse on duty to leave the kid alone for a while, he was sleeping off a headache. What the older pilot didn't know was that there was a more sinister force at work behind his young friend's ailment. The nurse glanced idly in the window, noting the patient under the blankets falling asleep. She did not however, take note of the thermometer built into the bed to help monitor vitals. If she had, she would have seen it slowly but steadily rising to 198° and higher.

Ben Sue and Reed were conferring in the living room, each of them wondering about the changes they had somewhat accidentally discovered. Sue's shy tendencies converting to invisibility while talking to Reed about one of their long standing issues. Reed snatching a wine bottle that had been knocked over, and was five feet away from him. And Ben, he'd been outside when some loose equipment came toppling down from a scaffolding, burying him easily. When he emerged, he was not, the human Ben Grimm, but a more grotesque orange creature made of rock, The Thing. He changed back to normal when he stared at his hands, and had demonstrated this to the other, to the expense of his clothing.

"So, somehow the cloud fundamentally altered our DNA. Sue offered.

"Sue, we'd need an incredible amount of evidence to prove that." Reed said, still puzzling over his own elasticity.

"Well egghead, I think we've got more'n enough of that right here," Ben said, shifting his hand to rock for emphisis, "Seem's pretty obvious to me."

"Oh my god," Sue said suddenly standing up. "Johnny, he was outside the station when the cloud hit. We have to get to him."

The three of them ran down the halls, only to be stopped by the shower of the automatic sprinkler system and a wave of blistering heat. The metal door to Johnny's room glowed orange faintly and flames had started to burst out around the edge and lick at the walls.

"Hang on kid!" Ben bellowed, shifting without thought into his rock form. Stepping forward, he smashed through the softened metal easily. The room was an inferno. The walls were a blackened mess, fire ate hungrily at the curtains, carpet and other items spread across the room.

Where the bed used to be, was now a twisted nest of white hot metal, in the center of which was a figure, huddled on itself, wreathed in flame. Johnny.

The burning figure looked up when he saw Ben. "Ben make it stop!" he begged. The kid was terrified, he rubbed at his arms trying to put the flames out. "Please make it stop!"

"Calm down Johnny!" Ben shouted, surging closer, though the heat kept pushing him back further. He knew the kid would be anything but calm right now, but it couldn't hurt to try. "If you calm down it might stop!"

_That _snagged the kid's attention. He tried, he really did try to calm himself down, he slowed his breathing and tried to concentrate on something other than the fire around him. It was hard but finally he managed to turn his attention back toward something else. He thought about being back at work with Ana, Grace and the others. He thought about their latest project for the Avengers, a new Quinnjet engine, and some specialized enhanced weaponry. It was Maccus' pet project. The big guy had almost fainted when Tony Stark, _the_ Tony Stark came to their little garage and signed them a contract to work on the project. Something about needing 'outside' options for them. It was a test, to see if they were good enough to work for the Avenger's full time. Ana didn't care, she just liked the challenge, same with Grace and David. Johnny enjoyed the idea that someone that influential had wanted their help with something. Maccus, well, he was nuts anyway.

When he had calmed down, the flames receded and were reabsorbed into his body, though he himself remained ignited. Ben breathed a sigh of relief when the heat returned to the normal temperature of the room. The area around Johnny only slightly warmer than normal. Like one of his Aunt Petunia's fresh cookies.

Shedding his rocky hide, Ben reached his flesh had out toward the flames, and found them to be hot yes, but still cooler than a normal candle flame. Turning back toward the door he called, "It's alright, come in!"

Reed and Sue entered the room with no small amount of trepidation. Ben was hovering over the still terrified Johnny, and the kid had huddled down on himself, focusing as hard as he could on his job back in New York. Sue reached out, after Ben nodded that it was alright, and hugged Johnny carefully.

She felt somewhat aghast that all of his hair was gone, probably burned off, but she stroked his head tenderly and said softly, "It'll be ok little brother, we'll fix this somehow."

Reed nodded, "Of course, once we get back to my lab in New York, I'll be able to-"

Johnny's head shot up. "No, I have to go to work." He pushed Sue away, and ion the blink of an eye was gone. Flown through a large hole he'd burned in the wall earlier, leaving only a burning trail where he had been.

"What did he mean he had to go to work?" Reed looked to Sue for the answer.

"He's gone back to the garage where he works." Sue explained, "Hes been helping work on a big project there."

"We have to get there first." Reed said urgently, "He could accidentally cause a lot of damage. We all need to get back to the lab so I can work on finding some sort of cure."

"He is not a science project." Sue snapped, "None of us are Reed. I don't want you forgetting that."

"I know that Sue, but the way he is now, Johnny is very dangerous, we can't let him go unchecked."

"So what're ya arguin' about?" Ben asked, "Lets get to New York and find the kid before he hurts himself."

"Agreed."

He got to the garage, and only Grace was there, the other's had probably gone and gotten lunch or something. Grace herself was a fairly large and rough around the edges. All muscle and backbone. An older woman, she kept her graying hair tucked under a cap most of the time, and took it upon herself to pass her skills onto the younger mechanics who had the patients and talent to learn. She also had seen enough in her life to not shock easily. It came with living in New York city all of her life.

So when a human torch walked through the front door, she simply wiped the grease off her hands and went to investigate.

"Grace?" Johnny's voice said.

"Johnny, what the hell happened to you boy?" he looked him up and down, "You look like death warmed over." She said, not intending any sort of pun, simply stating a fact. "Had a bit of an accident I suppose?"

Johnny laughed hollowly. "I guess you could say that."

Grace nodded. "Well, assuming you can still wear clothes, lets see what we've got lying around that you can wear. Won't do having you walking around in your altogether through the city, people could talk."

She rummaged through some of the boxes holding spare clothes they kept stored in the back. Quite often something went wrong and one of them need a last minute change of clothing.

She dumped her selections onto a chair and sorted through them, handing Johnny a few as she went.

He held them gently as though afraid they would burn up as soon as he held them. When they didn't he began to pull them on. A pair of worn black jeans, a black dress shirt, socks, underwear and some boots a bit too large but comfortable, a wide brimmed cowboy hat also black and a matching leather duster that reached all the way to the floor.

"There," Grace said approvingly once he was dressed, "That'll give you a decent enough disguise in public. Ana said you weren't gonna be back for at least a month. Care to explain why you've cut your vacation early?"

"I would have thought that was obvious." Johnny said with a wry grin. "Yeah, there was a, miscalculation or something I guess and boom. Here you've got a walking talking fireball."

"Well, you've still got two hands and the wit to use 'em. You know Ana won't care, not that it matters anyway. What with Maccus and all. I guess Dave counts toward that area too. One more meta human around won't make that much difference. 'Course I doubt you'll be needing a blow torch anymore."

Johnny chuckled. "Yeah I guess you're right." He nodded over at the work she'd been doing before he'd interrupted. "Need any help?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, before looking back at the engine she'd been repairing. They both knew that the older woman could fix the thing half an sleep, blindfolded and with one hand behind her. Nevertheless she replied, "'Eh why not? It was too quite here anyway."

Johnny grinned appreciatively before hanging his coat on one of the hooks, and tucking the borrowed tools she'd offered him into his pocket. It was good to be home.

A/N: Well, I hope You enjoyed this installment. I'll try and get the next one up when I can. I'm on summer break right now so I'll update whenever I can. Remeber, click the little purple button to help feed the imagination of this author!


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